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My Parents are Aliens
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My Parents are Aliens is a British children's comedy on CITV about an eccentric family, which started in 1999 and ended in 2006. It initially followed the lives of three orphaned children: Melanie, Josh and Lucy Barker, and their new foster parents Brian and Sophie Johnson.
The children soon discover that the Johnsons are in fact aliens from the fictional planet Valux, who crash-landed on Earth when Brian tampered with the controls of their spaceship; as shown by the opening credits, the house they live in is actually a morphed form of their spaceship.
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My Parents are Aliens is a British children's comedy on CITV about an eccentric family, which started in 1999 and ended in 2006. It initially followed the lives of three orphaned children: Melanie, Josh and Lucy Barker, and their new foster parents Brian and Sophie Johnson.
The children soon discover that the Johnsons are in fact aliens from the fictional planet Valux, who crash-landed on Earth when Brian tampered with the controls of their spaceship; as shown by the opening credits, the house they live in is actually a morphed form of their spaceship. They also have the ability to morph into other people. Brian and Sophie start out with a very limited and muddled knowledge of life on Earth, and the children must do their best to help them acclimatise. No one outside the family must ever learn that they are aliens, or they will be taken away for scientific testing, and the Barkers will lose another set of parents.
The humour in the programme is surreal and sometimes gently subversive. While the programme is a children's show it occasionally makes reference to rather mature matters, high-brow culture, and complex scientific thinking; and because of this it has also gained a considerable following of older viewers outside of its intended age range.
Characters
Parents
- Brian Johnson (Tony Gardner) (1999-2006) is a Valuxian alien and the cause of the Johnson's crash-landing on Earth. Often childlike, he follows crazes and fads and gets bored easily, and is easily sucked into Josh's scams. He has little or no concept of morality, often creating difficult situations for the characters and only rectifying them because he is told to. Though he can morph at will, his allergy to ice cream makes him grow moose's antlers involuntarily whenever he eats it. He is, despite his personality, an excellent scientist, a trait that Lucy appreciates.
- Sophie Johnson (Barbara Durkin) (1999-2000 with an appearance in 2005), then (Carla Mendonça) (2001-2006) is a Valuxian alien and Brian's wife. She has slightly more common sense than Brian but is still quite clueless and easily led after enough persuasion. Unlike Brian, she is not good at morphing and can only do so when eating ice cream; after morphing into a new shape at the start of the third series, Sophie finds she is unable to return to her previous form, and decides to stay as she is (Carla Mendonça took up the role). Barbara Durkin returns as Aunt Sophie in the episode "Thanks For All The Earthworm Custard".
Series 1-7: The Barkers
- Melanie 'Mel' Barker (Danielle McCormack) (1999-2004,2005): Melanie "Mel" Barker is a teenager who has a sarcastic and temperamental personality; being the oldest of the Barker children, she has a protective and motherly nature towards her younger siblings since the death of their parents. It is obvious that Mel's difficult attitude comes from the pain of losing her parents, as well as being moved to and from different foster homes. Despite her reputation as a tough person, she has displayed signs of weaknesses in episodes such as "The Box", particularly towards her sister Lucy. Mel's best, and apparently only, friend is Trent Clements and the two have an obvious romantic interest in each other, though they do not start going out until much later in the series. Mel has radical and unusual sense of fashion and has always shown an interest in photography; this led to her moving to Canada on an exchange programme at the end of Series 6. She later returned to the show for the series 7 finale, "Thanks For All The Earthworm Custard".
- Joshua "Josh" Barker (Alex Kew) (1999-2005): Josh Barker is the middle Barker sibling and was around twelve years old when he was fostered by Valuxians, Brian and Sophie Johnson. Josh is devious and scheming, constantly inventing new and interesting scams to make money, and roping Brian into his latest schemes. His two best friends are Pete and Frankie. Although cunning, Josh is often outsmarted by his more quick-witted sisters, Mel and Lucy; he does not show much interest in school studies, hence his poor grades, although he has shown average signs of intelligence. His interests include rollerblading, skateboarding, making money and "the gorgeous Tania Thomas". He also plays the guitar very well.
- Lucille "Lucy" Barker (Charlotte Francis) (1999-2005): Lucy Barker is the youngest and most intelligent Barker. At the start of the show she was eight years old. She is very talented in her school subjects, particularly in Maths and Science, though her favourite subject is Chemistry. Her above average intelligence means she often bonds with Brian, who has an excellent scientific knowledge, despite a lack of common sense, and they often play chess or conduct chemistry experiments. Her best friend is Wendy Richardson, who is equally intelligent and shares Lucy's goal to become an astronaut. Lucy and Wendy are not very popular, due to their scientific interests. She is very honest and moral and is often the one to set her foster parents straight in regards to Earth matters and issues. She easily sees through Mel and Josh's tough acts and voices their true feelings accurately. However, she sometimes lacks a sense of adventure and can be somewhat uptight and controlling. Despite these traits, she is the most kind and caring character.
- CJ (Olisa Odele) (2004-2005): a small, quiet boy who was rescued from being run over by 'Superbrian', a.k.a. Brian Johnson wearing a cape. By strange coincidence he turns out also to be an orphan from the children's home and is adopted into the family because he finds out about Brian and Sophie being aliens and threatens to report them. He generally takes on the role of Brian's 'sidekick', and is therefore involved in many of Brian's ridiculous schemes and mad ideas.
- Harriet 'Harry' (Stephanie Fearon) (2005): introduced at the start of series 7, her real name is Harriet, but she snaps angrily at anyone who calls her by that name. Brian and Sophie adopted her when looking for a replacement for Mel, who had at the time left for Canada on an exchange trip. She is very similar to Mel in terms of personality, as she is usually moody and is a bit of a tomboy. She is also very protective of CJ because he is the youngest, although he finds her behaviour patronising. Like Josh, she plays the guitar, and her practising sometimes irritates the others.
Series 1-7: Other characters
- Pete Walker (Patrick Niknejad) (1999-2005) and Frankie Perkins (Jordan Maxwell) (1999-2005), Josh's long-suffering friends. Pete has a pessimistic outlook on life and easily spots Josh's scams, but usually ends up getting drawn in anyway. Frankie's optimism is a foil for Pete's pessimism, but along with his dopeyness means he is often the target of Josh's scams. He has a long-held crush on Mel, and, in Series 7, he has a crush on Harry as well. Pete and Frankie have tried to desert Josh on several occasions, but always come back.
- Wendy Richardson (Isabella Melling) (1999-2005), Lucy's only friend. In her scientifically-minded and studious nature she is very similar to Lucy, but as has been seen throughout the episodes, is perhaps not as smart and is even less in touch with popular culture than Lucy. Pompous, and somewhat arrogant, she will always lose exams/tests to Lucy by 1%. Despite originally having strong feelings for Josh, she gets together with Frankie by the end of series seven.
- Terence "Trent" Clements (Keith Warwick) (2000-2005), Mel's long-time friend. He endures Mel's mood swings with resignation and good humour, and it is hinted that he is romantically interested in her. They finally get together in series 6. In series 7, it is revealed that his Scottish accent is fake.
- Mr Graham Whiteside (Dan O'Brein) (1999-2005), a very grumpy teacher with a particular dislike for Josh Barker. Sophie has a bit of an obsession with him, whilst he has an obsession with Kate Winslet.
- Mrs Alison Hardman Beatrice Kelly (1999-2005), another of Josh's and Lucy's teachers who, unsurprisingly, has a dislike for Josh.
- Poppy Manning (Kirsha Southward)(2002-2005), a girl who frequently appears as a rival to Josh, due to her similarly scheming, sneaky personality.
- Tanya Thomas (Zoe Thorns)/(Emily Fleeshman)/(Sasha Tilley) (1999-2005), the object of Josh's affections. In the "Valentines Day" episode she is shown to harbor a secret affection for Josh, though he mistakenly believes she has sent him hate mail and is determined to get back at her. Brian's well meaning attempts to ask her out while morphed as Josh apparently ruin any potential relationship. She gets together with Pete Walker in series 7.
- Mikey (Chris Cornwell) (1999, 2005) appears in the first series, as good friends with Josh Barker, Pete Walker and Frankie Perkins. He is perfectly happy being Josh's third-in-command, and is most commonly used as a look-out. He makes a cameo at the end of series 7.
- Dave Locket (Julian Triandafyllou) (1999), a cool, good-looking and popular - but very unintelligent - boy in school. Although originally Josh's idol, the two later sink into rivalry, most notably in the episode, The Home Team. He is particularly fond of his hair.
Series 8: The Bennetts
- Jacqueline "Jaq" Bennett (Jessica Woods) (2006), A fiery teenage girl, Jaq is the oldest of the new foster children. Jaq has difficulty making friends because of her attitude. She rarely shouts, usually letting her sharp wit do the talking.
- Dan Bennett (Daniel Feltham) (2006), Becky's twin. Although he is arguably the 'geekier' of the two, collecting comics and speaking Klingon, he is neither academic nor interested in science. In fact, he is quite stupid, something he is quite proud of. Dan is a television addict, but also enjoys computer games and the Internet. He appears to have only one friend, Dinesh.
- Becky Bennett (Katie Pearson) (2006), Dan's twin. Becky is very studious. She is fond of dissecting animals, and her ambition is to study veterinary science at University. She is a little pompous.
- Eddie Bennett (Jake Young) (2006), the youngest member of the family. He manipulates and even emotionally blackmails the other characters to get what he wants. He does this easily because of his innocent appearance, as well as the naïevité of his foster parents. He often plays with Sophie and, like CJ, likes to play with Brian.
Production
The show added a laugh track from series 4 onwards. Although there were complaints that it spoiled the feel of the show, it was kept for the rest of the show's run with the exception of the Season 6 Episode "Oh Brian" which was about Brian & Sophie creating their own comedy show with audience sound effects tracks.
During the first episode of series 8, Brian and Sophie's memories were erased, resulting in them not remembering anything of the Barkers, any events that occurred, or Earthling ways that they learnt during the shows entire run. This series was dubbed "Phase 2" by fans, as the styles of Brian and Sophie, the rest of the cast, the sets, the location and even the galactic guidebook all changed. With only one series of this new style, some fans felt that the final episode of series 7, Thanks for all the Earthworm Custard, should have been the final episode, as it was the last to feature the original regular cast, and concluded ongoing plots from the first seven series.
The last episode of My Parents are Aliens was aired on 18 December 2006, and the official website was permanently removed a few months later. The show ceased production due to the demise of Granada Kids - with children's programmes no longer being run on the ITV Network, the company no longer makes children's shows in-house.
The show was filmed at The Leeds Studios which was home to it's production company Yorkshire Television. Since March 2009, ITV annouced that the studios would be closing down due to budget problems with the company.
Episodes
Video and DVD
My Parents Are Aliens had one video which featured the complete first series, which is a rare item today. In 2006, the show finally released its first DVD, including two episodes of series 2 and four episodes of series 3 (including both the first and last episodes of the series). The actor, Tony Gardner who plays Brian has said that if fans of the programme want all 8 series of the programme to be released onto DVD then at least 100 signatures in a petition needs to be given to the company Entertainment Rights.
External links
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